Born Ruth Weston on January 12, 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia, Ruth was the oldest of seven children. She began singing at the local AME Church where her father was the choir director. Initially she was inspired by jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Sarah Vaughan. In 1945 she ran away from home to go on the road with singer/trumpeter Jimmy Brown, much to her father's dismay. They were soon wed. "I couldn't come home unless I was married," says Ruth.

Ruth was singing at the Frolic Show Bar in Detroit late in 1946 when she was spotted by big band leader Lucky Millinder. Although he already had two vocalists in his orchestra (Anisteen Allen and Bullmoose Jackson) he added Ruth to his unit…only to fire her a month later for having obtained drinks for some members of the band during an engagement! As an afterthought, recalls Ruth Brown, "He told me I couldn't sing!"

Stranded in D.C., she took a gig at the Crystal Caverns (a club operated by Cab Calloway's sister Blanche) in order to raise enough money for bus fare back to Portsmouth. Patrons of the club, however, were so taken with her unique blue note-dripping delivery of ballads, that she stayed on at the Crystal Caverns, with Blanche Calloway becoming her manager. One night, Duke Ellington — along with deejay Willis Conover — dropped by the club. Impressed by what he heard, Conover called two New York friends — Herb Abramson and Ahmet Ertegun — who were starting up a new label called Atlantic Records. An audition for Ruth Brown was arranged.

While en route to New York for the audition (and her Apollo Theater debut) Ruth and Ms. Calloway were seriously injured in an auto accident outside of Philadelphia. Ruth Brown's legs were mangled (she eventually had double knee replacement surgery), and she spent nine months in the hospital. Finally, on May 25, 1949, she entered Atlantic Records' studios on crutches to record "So Long." An immediate sensation, the song (Atlantic's second major hit) launched Ruth Brown's career as a national recording star.

More hits quickly followed. "Teardrops from My Eyes" (1950) and a string of number one hits ("5-10-15 Hours," "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean," "Oh What a Dream" and "Mambo Baby,") made Ruth Brown the biggest selling black female recording artist in the music industry from 1951 to 1954.

Ruth's success continued into the rock 'n' roll era with such hits as "Lucky Lips," and "I Didn't Know." She toured the country, appearing on all-star packages shows produced by deejay Alan Freed. During the '60s she maintained a lower profile, returning to ballads and jazz, her first love. Finally, settling into a marriage in New York, she turned her back on the spotlight in order to be-come a housewife and full-time mom to her sons Ronald and Earl.

In 1976, comedian, television star and an old friend, Redd Foxx summoned Ruth to Hollywood. She relocated to L.A. and accepted a role portraying gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a civil rights musical Foxx was producing called Selma. From there she moved to Las Vegas, where she sang at the Circus Circus casino and acted in local productions, honing her craft. Renowned television producer Norman Lear (All in the Family) saw her in one of those productions and impressed by her natural comedic timing, cast her as Leona in his sitcom Hello Larry.

More acting roles followed for Ruth, which led to her first major role in a motion picture, John Water's classic movie Hairspray, in which she portrayed the zany sock-hop emcee, 'Motormouth Maybelle.'

Ruth garnered international acclaim as an actress, something she had never experienced before, and this helped pave the way for her Tony Award-winning performance in the musical Black and Blue in 1989.

Along with the Tony, a 1989 Grammy-winning album (Blues on Broadway), Ruth completed the performer's trifecta with her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on her 65th birthday!

Ruth Brown's considerable accomplishments are not limited to the stage. Ruth and her lawyer Howell Begle of Washington, D.C., were the central figures of a legal battle with Atlantic Records over back royalties, which — when amicably settled — directly led to the establishment of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which is providing hospitalization and other benefits for the pioneers of the genre.

And, if all that were not enough, Ruth co-authored (along with Andrew Yule) her autobiography, Miss Rhythm, which was released in February of 1996 by Penguin Books. It recently won the 1997 Ralph Gleason Music Book Award for excellence in music literature.

1989 Miss Rhythm: Greatest Hits and More

1995 Ruth Brown and Friends: Live in London

1997 R+B=Ruth Brown

1999 A Good Day for the Blues